State lawmakers hoping to quickly ban new designer drugs are pausing to get their game-plan straight. A proposal that had been fast-tracked to a Senate committee for today is being put off a week.

State Representative Tony Shipley hopes it’ll take less than two months to pass the bill, which would crack down on the latest synthetic drugs. Convenience stores sell them with phony labels identifying them as “bath salts” and “plant food.”

Shipley says his measure would go after new formulas, that are made to mimic drugs that are already illegal.

“If it acts like a controlled substance then we’re going to treat it like a controlled substance. It doesn’t have to be any specific chemical composition. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. And if you get caught with a duck you’re going to jail.”

Shipley says the bill would make selling such drugs a felony. It will also include a part from House Caucus Chair Debra Maggart, to punish stores that sell the drugs, by shredding their beer licenses and lottery contracts.

EARLIER:

The full Senate gave the committee the green light last week to take up the bills, even though the deadline to set the agenda had already passed. That’s unusual this early in the session and is a marker of how important these two issues are.

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